Boyhood

Boyhood was Leo Tolstoy’s sequel to his debut novel Childhood and part of a trilogy of supposedly autobiographical novels: Childhood, Boyhood and Youth. Boyhood continues the story of Nikolenka. The trilogy of novels is thought by some critics to be autobiographical and there are some elements that are close to Tolstoy’s life. However, other critics such as A. N. Wilson have shown that Childhood, Boyhood and Youth were attempts by the young Tolstoy to create his own mythology about his early years. Boyhood was first published in 1854 in the Russian literary journal Sovremennik (or The Contemporary in English). This edition also features a brief Biography of Leo Tolstoy and a Bibliography with ideas for further research into Leo Tolstoy and his works.